


Put Your Head On My Shoulder

by b_dubinsky



Category: Men's Hockey RPF
Genre: Alternate Universe - 20s, Alternate Universe - Gang, M/M, i think theres like a flick of a handjob, idk if im proud of this or not, yeah they in a gang
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-11-30
Updated: 2019-11-30
Packaged: 2021-02-27 01:40:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,734
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21619414
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/b_dubinsky/pseuds/b_dubinsky
Summary: He wants to act like someone that he figures Josh would like.What comes up in his head when he thinks about Josh’s ‘type’ is a tall, blonde, skinny girl whose dresses are a little too tight and wears her hair a little too skimpy.Boone isn’t like that at all and it’s a little scary to actually like Josh when he doesn’t feel like the type that Josh likes.
Relationships: Josh Anderson/Boone Jenner
Comments: 7
Kudos: 6





	Put Your Head On My Shoulder

**Author's Note:**

> title from put your head on my shoulder by paul anka

1921

The roaring twenties is what everyone is saying. After this whole world war thing tore everyone and everything down, they were going to come back stronger than ever. 

Boone surely saw it that way. 

Since he had fought in the war, his momma and pa hadn’t wanted anything to do with him when he got back. He didn’t give a damn. As far as he was concerned, he was on his own anyway. If he could survive a blazing war, he could live without mommy and daddy holding his hand. 

So he packed his stuff after two days of the cold shoulder and he headed down south. Ohio. 

He ended in Columbus, poking around to find a job and he got hired pretty quick. A good old mechanic job since all the new fancy cars were coming out. If people wrecked or something was wrong with it, they brought it to him and he fixed it up for them. 

After about two months, he found an ad in the paper asking for a roommate. 

Considering he was staying in the back of the shop, he figured he would go meet with this Josh person on his break. 

When he got his break at 12:00, he started walking in the way that the address would be. 

When he finally arrived at the house, he put his greasy flat cap on over his wild looking hair and knocked on the door. 

When it opened up, he was met with a tall, stocky young gentleman. Looked to be about 24, he had a little fuzz on his chin and his hair was well slicked-back. He was fixed in a white button-up tucked into some gray slacks and brown dress shoes, blazer seemingly taken off for comfort in his own home. 

“May I help you, sir?” The man asked, posturing up a little better than he was before. 

“Yes, sir. I got the paper just a short while ago and I was wondering about your ad in the renting section.” Boone propositioned, suddenly self-conscious with the fact that he was all greasy and nasty-looking in front of this dapper-appearing man. 

“Aye, come in, please.” He moved from the doorway, inviting Boone into the house. 

It was a little modern with a touch of bland. 

It was a two story home, made the same way as his old house back home. 

“Have a seat, please. Let's talk a little.”

Boone gladly took the seat being offered and watched as the man sat down. 

The ad said his name was Josh but you don’t know if there’s another person or what so he’s just going to wait. 

“What’s your name?” He asked, crossing his legs. 

“My name is Boone. Jenner.” He stumbled over his words a little bit, shaming himself for it. “Yours?”

“Josh Anderson, sir.” 

“You don’t have to call me sir.” Boone laughed as his suspicions of his name was confirmed. 

It must be that he is the only one living in the house that he will have to rent off of. 

“Okay, so where do you work?” Josh asked, seeming to survey the way Boone looked. 

“I work at McLeod’s Body Shop.” 

“Ah, I know ol’ James pretty good. He’s paying you alright ain’t he?” 

“Yes he is. He’s the reason I’m down here willing to rent off of you.” Boone offered a sly smile to his better-dressed counterpart.

“Oh, you don’t have to rent. You can just stay here, but we do have somewhat of a contract to negotiate. Let me get all the terms figured out and then you can come back when you get off. I know James and his schedule for his boys isn’t likely a good one, but whenever you get the chance just come back. I should have everything figured out by then.” He smiled and stood, leading Boone to the door. 

“Don’t work yourself to hard. I would like to have you come back in one piece.” 

“Thank you for this, mister. I really appreciate it.” Boone smiled, showing himself out.

Closing came around 5:00 and right when he was able to go, he did, telling James he had a meeting with someone and that he would be back to hit the hay. 

When he strode up the sidewalk to the steps of the house, he was met with an already opened door. 

He went ahead and walked in, expecting something to be wrong, only to be met with Josh sitting on the couch with a group of men laughing and talking with him. 

“Oh, hi, Boone. This is some guys that I work with.” Josh informed, standing up and motioning for him to go to the kitchen with him.

On the kitchen table was a printed-off piece of paper and a pen sitting next to it. 

“Read through it and make sure you want to go through with everything and if so, sign it. If not, you can walk out of here and you won’t have to hear from me again.” Josh pulled the chair out for him and he sat down, beginning to read the text on the page. 

_ On this 13th day of April, 1921, the following circumstances and conditions will be assessed.  _

_ It is important for you to understand exactly what it is that I do for a living.  _

_ I am in a gang. We run the whole north side of Columbus. We have eyes everywhere and we are not afraid to steal and kill. If you agree to live with me, you will not have to work as I will provide everything for you, me, and our house. Granted, if you would want to quit your job and pick up a little bit of slack with me, you can do so.  _

_ Thank you for your outstanding cooperation. I look forward to doing business with you.  _

At the bottom was a long dotted line for him to sign his name. 

He thought on it for a little bit. The gang could probably use his war experience and he will admit, it sounds a lot better than his job at the body shop. More entertaining. 

He signed it. 

“I’d like to also be in the gang. I was in the war. I’m not sure about you or any of your other men but I can speak for most of us and say that the experience that comes with that is phenomenal. So long as you’ll accept me, I’ll gladly work with you.” He spoke, softly looking up at Josh.

“Just so we’re being clear, you wanna live with me too, right?” Josh laughed and Boone went along with it, nodding with him. “So I guess I better give you the grand tour.” 

He showed him all around the house, including where he would sleep and have all of his things and where Josh would be if he needed him. 

The house held a huge study in the basement, not what you would expect in the basement of a gangsters house but it was there and Boone would use it to its full extent. 

“We have to initiate you. I know it isn’t ideal but we have to do it to make sure you can handle everything.”

Boone nodded, mentally preparing himself for whatever it was they were going to throw at him. 

What they were throwing were knives, coming at him in almost every direction and it was his job to fight it all off.

He got through them with only one cut sustained to the top of his right eyebrow, courtesy of Mr. Anderson himself. 

“Alright, sir. You’re in.”

“I have to go get my things from the shop. That’s where I had been staying.”

“Okay. Nicky, Dubi, walk with him. Make sure nothing happens to our newest member.” Anderson smirked before walking up the stairs and out of sight.

The two older looking guys took a stance on either side of Boone and led him out of the door and back out onto the street. 

“So, I guess I may as well introduce myself. My name is Boone Jenner and I guess I’m working with you guys now.”

-

The first few days in the gang were unconventional but those days in the house were...more than what he expected. 

For starters, Josh was a sleepwalker. 

He would hear the footsteps before he knew what was happening and by the end, Josh was in his bed seemingly out of nowhere. 

It was all good and well, though. Josh always ended up back in his room and Boone had no reason to question it. If that was what sleepwalking Josh needed then he would provide it. He was his gang leader anyway. 

The two began to swap places quickly, though. His gang life was getting more unpredictable by the day. 

To start off, he was being treated like a ‘higher-up’ compared to most of the other guys who had been there longer than him. He had been given a group of guys to walk around with him when Josh couldn’t be there himself and more importantly, he had staged his first robbery. 

It was a bank and they got off with 245,000 dollars and more importantly, no lives lost. 

With his share, he decided to go ahead and get his own fresh and new suit. One with pinstripes, indicating that he was in a gang. 

He started slicking his hair down so when he took his hat off it still looked somewhat stylish. 

Josh made such a remark when he got back to the house from the store and he took it off, tossing it haphazardly onto the kitchen table. 

“Your hair looks real good, Booner.” He chuckled, sidling up behind him to wrap an arm around his waist. 

Boone is going to be serious on this topic. He knows the way he feels about other men is less than normal and it is completely looked down upon in the modern day. He hopes that one day it will be different for people like him, but his point here is that, in the time he has known Josh Anderson, those feelings have pinpointed to him only and Boone doesn’t know how to process that bit of information. 

He would say that he was scared but at the same time, his mom taught him one good thing in his years living with his family and that was to not lie, especially not to himself.

He isn’t scared. Not by a long shot, but many would think he was. 

Since he joined the gang, he’s carried himself like he owns the whole north side of Columbus, which, he supposes he does. He also thinks that it could be the fact that he is insanely into Josh. 

It isn’t that he is self-conscience, it’s just that he doesn’t want to get his hopes up and then have his dreams crushed. 

In the end, it’s not hard. How they come together and ‘discuss’ their feelings. 

“You like guys.” Josh said one night while they were enjoying dinner. Chicken pot pie and mashed potatoes. 

“Yes, and?” Boone answered, stomach not dropping how he expected it to when he was found out.

“I do too. You only, though.” Josh was keeping it short and sweet and Boone was okay with that.

“Me too.” 

And that was it. Until dinner was over. 

Sitting on their couch in the living room, cards were being played after a couple of the other guys came over to hang out with them. 

Boone thought they were going to discuss the group of guys that had come down here expecting to run town, but Josh dismissed that pretty early on, opting to play a game of rummy. 

After that was over and the boys had all gone, Josh crowded up next to him on the couch, mouth close to his ear when he spoke. 

“Have you ever done anything with another boy, Booner?” He whispered, heat transferring from his words onto the skin around Boone’s ear and neck.

“Once.” 

“Tell me about it.” 

“Well, my ma and pa were gone on a little anniversary thing and I brought one of my buddies over and he took some rum from his dad and we drank it together. Around 10:30, ol’ Jack and I were lying up in my room just talking when he got real close up next to me and kissed me.” As he was talking, Josh had begun running his fingers down his chest through his button-up and he was nipping at Boone’s neck. 

“Go on.”

“He did the same thing you’re doing right now. And I played along with him. I kissed him just as good as he kissed me and eventually we just traded a little handiwork with one another.” 

“How old were you?” Josh whispered, unbuckling Boone’s belt and opening his trousers. 

“16.” 

“And the other boy?” 

“He was 19.”

“That boy didn’t take advantage of you did he? I’d have my best hitman find him and tear him to pieces, you know that don’t you?” 

“Yes I do know that, and no he did not take advantage of me.”

At this point, Josh had started stroking him idly, barely there, but enough for him to realize that someone was, in fact, touching him. 

He whined against Josh’s mouth when he twisted his wrist on an upstroke, just enough for Boone to finally start feeling it. 

Boone put his hand down Josh’ pants instead of just sitting there useless. 

He bared his neck for Josh as he began with subtle strokes.

“This doesn’t amount for anything I want to do to you. Go ahead and let go for me.” 

And Boone did, hand slipping from Josh’s shaft as he blissed out. 

The next thing he knew, he was being carried up to bed.

Not his bed but Josh’s.

He didn’t mind.

Christmas, 1921

“You guys, get out of here as soon as possible. I want to spend a proper Christmas with Boone.” 

Boone heard this walking down the stairs on Christmas morning in Josh’s hug button-up and a pair of underwear. 

When everyone caught a glimpse of him, bed-head and all, they laughed and gave both of the guys hugs and wished them a Merry Christmas.

He moved to get a mug of coffee after everyone had left, feeling the presence of Josh wrapping himself around Boone’s back. 

“You want a proper Christmas for me?” Boone giggled, turning in his boyfriend’s hold, sipping from his coffee. 

“Obviously.” Josh smiled into his neck. 

The thing is, any man ever that could get intimate like this with another person of the same sex had the fear of their entire life breathing down the back of their neck. Josh and Boone didn’t have to worry about any of it. Everyone in town knew that if they said something, they’d get shot. 

He’d seen the headlines. He may be in a huge gang but that doesn’t mean he reads the papers any less than he used to. 

All the papers said ‘Psycho Lovers Aren’t Who You Expect’ and ‘Homosexuals Run Largest Gang In Northern Columbus.’ 

Josh loves it because he  _ wants  _ to have that everlasting impression on people. 

They went on these huge heists together, stealing millions of dollars and when they would get back to their house with the loot, they’d make love like a man and woman in the piles of green. 

He wanted to be with Josh for his entire life and he didn’t care if anyone knew it and he certainly didn’t care how long it had been since they began dating. 

“Well what did you get me that you couldn’t show in front of everyone else?” He asked, kissing the shell of Josh’s ear. Josh was a little taller and thicker than Boone and he definitely led most things, but when it came to being gentle, Boone was the expert at that. 

Instead of talking, Josh simply dropped and for a moment, Boone was scared until he finally just  _ looked  _ and realized Josh was on a knee. 

With a ring. 

“Just don’t give a fuck about anyone else and marry me.”

“Well I’m obviously going to, you idiot.”

Later on, they were hanging out around their little fireplace and Josh revealed something that had been eating him up for a little while. 

“When I went to get the ring, he asked me about how beautiful my lovely little lady was and I just, I didn’t know how to reply. I wanted to say so bad that I had me a handsome man at home but I just couldn’t. He didn’t know me or he wouldn’t have asked. And if he did know me, then he was pretending and I’ll kill him in front of his family.”

“You don’t always have to fight for me.” Boone smiled gently, running his thumb across the bone of Josh’s cheek.

“I just love you. I can’t help it if I am a little sentimental towards you.”

“I love you, too.”

New Years, 1922

Ringing in the new year in and of itself was very foreign to Boone. He never really celebrated it, just acknowledged that the calendar was flipping to a different year and went on. 

Ringing in the new year with a party and having his fiance by his side was something that he never thought he’d have but here he is.

“What are your resolutions, bug?” Josh asked him when they were laying in bed that night, party filtering out the door around 2:30.

“To spend the rest of this year and my entire life looking at your beautiful face.” He smiled, kissing Josh’s forehead. 

Here’s the funny thing; they got married on Valentine’s day and Boone got arrested four days later. 

It was this really stupid thing in all honesty. All he knew was that when he got out, that Johnson boy had hours to live. 

Life on the inside wasn’t as scary as it would’ve been to past Boone. No, he’s gone through some rough and tumble shit since he first moved to Columbus and he expected to use his experience in jail. 

Here’s another thing; he got out in three months and didn’t see Josh, his husband, a single goddamn time. 

And when he finally got back to their house, there was a kid playing in the yard. 

He didn’t recognize him. He assumed if it was one of the guy’s kids then he would have at least met him. 

He walked past the boy and through the door, slipping his shoes off right inside the front door. 

“Oh is this another guy? I haven’t ever met him. Nice to meet you. I’m Jackie.” A pristine, clean cut young woman presented herself in the living room, standing in front of Boone with an outstretched hand. 

“Who is it, sweetheart?” And, Boone knew that voice. He knew that drawl and he definitely knew that it wasn’t just friendly. 

“Some guy. He just walked in. What’s your name, sugar?” 

“Boone. He’ll know who I am. I’ll wait outside. Tell him I just wanna talk. Thank you, darling.” 

He walked out the door thinking of every possible  _ positive  _ scenario. He could only come up with one.

Jackie was the sweet woman he had just moved in down the street and she had brought her son down to meet Josh. 

That was all he could come up with until Josh was standing face-to-face with him. 

“Didn’t know you’d get out this early.” Josh blew out a puff of air more than likely meaning for it to be a laugh. 

“Why didn’t I hear from you? Or see you? I got nothing, Josh. Not a damn thing.” 

“In front of my kid?” Josh asked, getting visibly annoyed with the whole ordeal. 

“Y-your kid…?” 

“Yeah. That’s my boy. And Jackie, she’s my ol’ lady.”

“And me?” Boone asked, tears welling in his eyes and for good fucking reason. 

“I’m just gonna give you the whole story straight, you can go upstairs, get your stuff and then you can walk the fuck away. Okay? Okay. She left me. We weren’t even married and she left me. She didn’t like the whole path I was on and she didn’t want little Carter picking up on the whole thing. I put that ad out there to show that I needed a companion. You fell for me and I played along with you. I played your game with you. When you got arrested, she saw the headlines and took her opportunity and came back to me.”

“You didn’t love me? You got married to me for no reason other than the fact that I kept you warm at night?” Boone didn’t know whether to feel hurt or angry. 

He was more hurt than anything.

“Pretty much. Now, look, I don’t want no trouble. None of this was ever meant to happen and I know you understand that.” Josh had a big hand on his shoulder now and he moved to knock it off of him. 

“How would your wife feel knowing that you were cuddled up with a man for nearly a year? How would she feel about the fact that we did everything you and her were supposed to do? That’d change her outlook on things wouldn’t it?” 

The sight of him taking his ring off his finger was blurred by the flood of tears protected by the dam of his eyes. They weren’t too far behind falling down the slope of his cheeks.

He pocketed the ring for now, walking in the house to gather the things he had left behind, asking Jackie if he could use the phone. 

“Hey, Dubi?” He spoke. 

“Yeah. Is this Booner?” Dubi sounded delighted but Boone was broken right now. 

“Yeah it’s me. Can you come get me?” His voice got watery from talking to someone. 

“Yes I sure can. I’ll be there in five.”

Boone walked out of the house and waited on Brandon to get there. 

When he was finally in front of the house, Boone walked past Josh, shoving the ring into the middle of his chest. 

“Drop dead you son of a bitch.” Boone muttered, walking to the car to get into it. 

“How you been?” Brandon had a smile on his face and Boone couldn’t hold in his tears.

“Shitty, Dubi. Really fucking shitty.”

**Author's Note:**

> please comment!!!  
> im on tumblr @b-dubinsky  
> my discord is colebbbbb#3732


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